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Syria opposition chief to discuss military aid in S. Arabia

Hazem Badr Monday, April 21, 2014

CAIRO – Military aid to the Syrian opposition is expected to top the agenda of Monday talks between Ahmed al-Jarba, head of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), and Saudi Arabian officials, a Syrian opposition military source said.

"The visit will focus on the aid Saudi Arabia can offer the Syrian opposition in the raging figh with regime forces in Aleppo and the Syrian coast," the source, requesting anonymity, told Anadolu Agency.

Syria has remained in the throes of conflict since early 2011, when a peaceful uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad escalated into full-fledged civil war following a violent government crackdown.

According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 150,000 people have been killed since the conflict began more than three years ago.

Around 8.8 million Syrians have been displaced inside the country, along with 3.2 million in neighboring countries, according to Haysam al-Malih, head of the SNC's legal committee.

At last month's Arab summit in Kuwait, al-Jarba had said that Syrian opposition forces were in desperate need of arms.

He argued that a political solution to the Syria crisis could only be achieved once "a balance of power" was in place on the ground.